novelraw Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Xia Ying found a shady spot to squat down, and even smaller little girls gathered around her.
She picked up those hair clips and, following her memory, imitated Liu Wenjie's manner of gluing quite seriously.
"Older Sister, is it hard?"
Little Xia Ying looked at these children's expectant gazes—she had never been looked at, watched, or relied on by so many people before.
Now that she had become the hope of others, Xia Ying's hands trembled unconsciously, but when she recalled the days she had recently spent with Liu Wenjie, she too wanted to become better.
She also wanted to stand on her own just like Older Brother Wenjie.
Taking a deep breath, she forced out a smile: "It... it shouldn't be hard, just wait a moment."
Little Xia Ying gave it her full twelve-out-of-ten effort. Even in the thirty-degree heat, cold sweat dotted her forehead as she glued the hair clips one by one. Still, her precision wasn't as good as Liu Wenjie's, and there was always some excess glue.
She even had to use a small twig from the roadside to carefully scrape away the extra glue, but in the end she finished gluing all of them. She set them out in the sun to dry and let out a sigh of relief.
"Leave them for a bit until the glue dries and they should be fine." She figured she had followed Older Brother Wenjie's steps exactly—there shouldn't be any mistakes.
The little girls had originally just come to play a quest, but seeing little Xia Ying's skillful technique and pretty face, they exchanged glances and said from the bottom of their hearts:
"Older Sister, you're amazing!"
"Yeah, and you're so pretty too!"
Little Xia Ying's face flushed red. She waved her hands awkwardly and laughed: "No, no." How am I supposed to answer them? Older Brother Wenjie, help~
Under the blazing sun, in less than half a minute the hair clips were about ready. The little girls took the hair clips and hurriedly said goodbye to little Xia Ying.
"Thank you, Older Sister." "Thank you, Older Sister!" They ran off to find some big brother to claim their reward, not noticing little Xia Ying standing there with her hand still raised, finally letting out a long breath of relief.
In the park, Liu Wenjie had bought a bag of ice cream—the kind with lids—and praised them: "Well done, everyone gets an ice-cream as a reward."
A bold little girl asked: "Big Brother, you're so handsome. Can I play with you in the future? When I grow up, I can be your wife, just like Mom and Dad."
Not far away, the little girl's dad was playing on his phone. Hearing his daughter's words, his body froze.
He looked up at Liu Wenjie, eyes brimming with killing intent.
Sweat dotted Liu Wenjie's forehead, but after a certain sound appeared, he chuckled.
[A little girl from the same estate thinks you're good-looking and wants to be your very, very best friend. Your options are?]
[Option One: Cute little girl, of course I agree. Reply: Sure, then we can play together from now on. Reward: The girl's dad's death glare.]
[Option Two: Such a cute little girl—how could a great guy like me refuse? Reply: Sure, but Big Brother has lots of other girls to play with, so maybe I can play with you another day. Reward: The girl's dad's super death glare.]
[Option Three...]
Stop! What's the difference between the first two options, I'd like to know?! Just give me Option Three!
"Take your ice-cream, turn around, and go find your dad. Leave Big Brother a way to live—go, go."
[Congratulations to the host for gaining +1 Intelligence.]
Liu Wenjie left the park with the last two ice-creams, wondering whether the world had changed or whether little girls nowadays were just different from before.
When I was a kid, would children say things like that?
Seems like they would... only the ones saying it didn't know what it meant.
Childhood—gone and never to return.
Really? Seems like it's already come back.
Standing by the gate guard, little Xia Ying saw Liu Wenjie return and happily ran over: "Older Brother Wenjie! You're back."
Liu Wenjie answered and handed one of the two ice-creams to little Xia Ying.
"Here, yours. Take it and eat."
Little Xia Ying nodded slowly, took it, and said thank you: "How does this ice-cream train Older Brother Wenjie?"
Liu Wenjie opened the lid and took a bite of his own ice-cream: "Xia Ying."
Little Xia Ying immediately answered: "Mm!"
Liu Wenjie patted her shoulder, lamenting how time flies—that the girl had already grown up: "Congratulations, you've graduated. As your teacher, I have nothing left to teach you."
Little Xia Ying blinked in confusion.
Liu Wenjie took another bite of ice-cream and headed toward home.
Little Xia Ying followed behind, still puzzled: "Wh... what do you mean, Older Brother Wenjie? Where are you going? Aren't we training today?"
Liu Wenjie:
"Didn't I just say? Training is completely over. There wasn't much I could teach you in the first place. You already have basic courage. From now on, if you truly want to become brave enough to make good friends in the future, you'll have to rely on yourself. If you want to make friends, you'll always be able to."
"But... but..."
Liu Wenjie stopped and turned back, his gaze sharp: "But what? Don't tell me you still have no confidence." He placed the ice-cream lid in her hand: "Also, help me throw away the trash."
Little Xia Ying held the trash lid in one hand and the ice-cream in the other. She first answered okay, then her eyes clearly showed reluctance: "I... I do have some confidence now."
Liu Wenjie gave her a meaningful look, turned, and kept walking: "Then that's it. Your courage is actually greater than most people's—you just haven't realized it yet. As long as you have confidence, everything will be fine."
"But does this mean training is really over? I feel..."
Liu Wenjie entered the stairwell: "What do you feel now? Didn't we train all this time just to boost your courage? Hasn't the goal already been achieved? What else is there to be dissatisfied about?"
Little Xia Ying felt that made sense, but looking at Liu Wenjie who was always just out of reach, she asked: "But there's still a long time left in summer vacation. Older Brother Wenjie, you won't come find me anymore?"
"If there's nothing going on, of course I won't."
Little Xia Ying stopped in her tracks and pressed her lips tightly. She felt something was wrong, very wrong.
Watching Liu Wenjie walking farther away, she hesitated, and finally, with tears in the corners of her eyes, she shouted in a cute voice:
"I don't feel that way! I did the special training because I wanted to be friends with Older Brother Wenjie, not because I wanted to train to make friends with others!"
Liu Wenjie turned back in surprise.
She took two steps forward with a runny nose, tugging at Liu Wenjie's sleeve to keep him from leaving, and said something she would never have said before: "If Older Brother Wenjie won't come find me, then... can I come play with you every day from now on? Can I... can I come find you?"
Liu Wenjie stared at Xia Ying's tear-filled eyes and sighed—this girl really had graduated.
The once dim-witted girl who only passively accepted other people's words had finally learned to voice her own desires.
......
A few minutes later, in Liu Wenjie's house, Lin Xiaoli was in the kitchen cutting fruit, occasionally sneaking glances at the two children in the bedroom.
Liu Wenjie sat woodenly on the bed, staring at little Xia Ying who insisted on sticking to him.
He suddenly realized a problem. Originally, he had thought that once the girl learned to speak up for herself and express what she wanted, everything would be over.
But... after this turn of events, how was he supposed to get rid of this silly girl? Didn't this really make them childhood sweethearts!
Little Xia Ying said timidly: "Can I come play with you in the future, Older Brother Wenjie?"
"If I say no..."
"No~ I want to play with you... Don't worry, I won't disturb you. I'll be very obedient and won't cause you any trouble."
She had even learned to talk back.
The guy was already at a loss: "You don't even listen to me anymore, so what do you want me to say?"
She lowered her head and muttered: "It's not that I don't listen... Except for this, I'll listen to everything else..."
"Do whatever you want. Why did I have to go join in the fun and look at trees back then?"
Hearing this, little Xia Ying's eyes lit up with joy as she grinned: "Thank you, Older Brother Wenjie! I see you're tired, so you rest today. Tomorrow morning I'll come play with you!"